Negative ENG! What the hell?

Ok so I'd already been to my neurotologist and she said, yep your left ear is a bit stuffed, that's causing your unbalance and gave me a set of exercises to do. After a week and a half i'd already noticed that the exercises had made some improvement to my balance.

However my GP wanted me to follow through with his ENT. One of his assistant did the ENG test on me, they did not use goggles to track eye movements but electrodes on the sides of my head. When they did my right ear I was extremely dizzy, as expected. When they did my left ear I was dizzy but no where near as much. So I thought 'yep, just like the neurotologist said'.

However when I had the appointment with the ENT he looked at the results and said, no problems with your ears. I was just astonished.

Ofcourse this would imply my balanced problems are now brain related, but I refuse to accept the negative results of this ENG. I'm just going to keep doing my exercises.

I am a bit worried now though, especially because I get lot of fatigue and muscle weakness. It has been improving but lately I'm forcing myself to get out and be active. I was hoping the fatigue will disappear as my balance is restored.

Has anyone else has similar experiences? I'm a tad worried I've got MS or something!

-The first one with the electrodes which came back negative , ( i was on antihistamines not sure if it affected the outcome)

- The second I had the goggles but I had taken ativan a benzo which I believe actually inhibits vestibular responses.. so the test came back postive but I actually had no response to the warm or cool air test in my ear which was extremely odd as it normally made me dizzy as all hell ..lol. So I definitely think the ativan messed up the outcome..

- My third and final test was done without any meds and at a reliable well known balance center with goggles and other fancy rotary tests..that test showed vestibular weakness and I was prescribed VRT.

anyway the moral of the story for me at least is depending on drugs you may have taken or the equipment used , you may have different outcomes.. I believe the goggles are more reliable than the electrodes so if possible see if you can find a place which uses the goggles... good luck and if you feel better doing the exercises you should absolutely continue doing them regardless of the results

I might have misunderstand what you mean by "stuffy" but stuffy does not mean damage to your inner ear. therefore the ENG wouldn't pick that up. Plus, like other people have said, ENG's aren't always reliable. If your ears are stuffy then you don't have damage in the inner ear. That's my understanding....

well in that case, don't assume the ENG is right. It could have just not picked up on the damage, and it also depends on the person analyzing the test. I wouldn't worry about having CNS damage. Are you going to get an MRI? Usually they order an MRI as routine. If you are really worried about it, maybe get another ENG test later on. If things are getting better, I'd stick with what you are doing and not worry about the diagnosis

i must be going to the wrong drs.....neither my ENT nor neuroto did any testing like this....what's the deal??? are these tests mostly reliable to show vestibular damage? if so, do they just give you VRT's and nothing else? arghhh!

don't worry zakk. i've got the MS scare from 2 drs now who both implied that i need an MRI, actually my ENT referred me to a neuro and i have an appt on monday for initial visit. i would have thought they should do some sort of testing like the ENG first??? good luck to you! but i think most of the fatigue is your brain trying to compensate, or that's what i think

I also had negative ENG (though I had slight difference in feeling dizzy). I was told that my left ear was a bit weaker than the right one but it was within norm. This test prompted my ENT doctor to say he didnít know what was wrong.

Antihistamines can affect the ENG test so usually you canít take them for a week before a test.

Hey Zakk80,
I love your attitude! Definitely don't let it get you down...it's highly unlikely that you have MS. I'm trying to adopt a similar attitude about my arachnoid cyst (see Dr. Hain's site about it), as it MAY be causing my ongoing imbalance/vision problems, but they USUALLY cause additional symptoms like difficulty walking, hearing loss, etc. So I'll just carry on, like you, until my legs give out. Then I'll know FOR SURE what to do next...brain surgery! Yay! Here's hoping your MRI will be normal, as 99% of those on this board have.

Zakk80,
I love your attitude as well. I would get so fustrated with doctors when they gave me a blank look everytime I saw them for help. I felt like I might as well diagnosis myself as well. I'm quiet good at the blank look and don't need a 25 dollar co-pay to see one

I think the moral of all this is that when it comes to dizziness there are SO many reasons a person can be dizzy. A lot of times when it is the inner ear, there really just is no way of pinning down the exact diagnosis. They can't go in there and see what is wrong, it's all speculation. In the end you just have to go on with your life and realize that inner ear problems usually resolve themselves. Get the MRI over with and find out that you don't have MS so you can put that diagnosis to rest. When i went to get the MRI, I knew it was all in my ears, but still was a bit worried. The MRI is kinda cool, you get to see a picture of your brain. It was pretty awesome.

Good luck to you Zakk80... you have a great attitude and with that will come recovery. It's all about pushing yourself, and one day you will realize it's all over and you can go on with your life.
Joy